January 22, 2024 – They’re back! Episode 9 of “Raider Up with President Rick” is available wherever you get your podcasts. Topics for SOU President Rick Bailey and student host Kai Pace include SOU exchange programs, Environmental Science, Policy & Sustainability, a vision of SOU in 10 years and the advice President Bailey would give himself when he came aboard two years ago.
January 16, 2024 – President Rick Bailey clicks off SOU’s goals for 2024 in this month’s video message. External objectives include building on “partnerships, collaborations and coalitions” built over the past two years, and moving SOU’s entrepreneurial initiatives – solar projects, senior housing and university business district – from the idea to the “actionable” phase. Internal goals focus on celebrating “loving, passionate, caring things” SOU does to serve its students, consolidating enrollment gains by retaining more returning students and ensuring that all “not just feel welcome here, but feel they belong here.”
December 14, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey and student podcast host Kai Pace are back for another episode of “Raider Up with President Rick.” This month’s topics include what happens on campus during winter break, SOU’s Theatre program, status of construction projects, SOU’s upward trajectory and more!
November 20, 2023 – President Rick Bailey celebrates SOU’s groundbreaking fall enrollment gains in this month’s video message. Increases of 15% in the freshman class and 10% for transfers, along with solid retention gains for all undergraduates, “set SOU apart” from Oregon’s other public universities. He credits data-sharing agreements with Oregon high schools, visits to K-12 districts, data analytics and hard work by admissions staff. The president also discusses SOU’s novel general education core and the “connection” of community members with the university.
November 14, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey is back for another season of the Raider Up podcast, this year hosted by student podcaster Kai Pace. President Rick answers questions about students’ questions about what excites him most about SOU’s future, his favorite places on campus, fire alarms and more.
October 4, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey says in this month’s video message that the new academic year is full of possibility. Enrollment figures suggest we’ll have the largest first year student class in at least six or seven years, and that enthusiasm for higher ed is good for the region and state. Also, the positive results from fiscal adjustments made over the past year have changed assumptions. SOU has gone from a “culture of scarcity” where possibilities are limited, to a “culture of opportunity” in which the best way to predict the future is to invent it.
August 14, 2023 – SOU President, Rick Bailey says in his August video message to campus that the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action and LGBTQ+ rights should have a little direct effect on SOU, but the university must assure that everyone not only feels welcome, but also knows that they belong. Student loan debt “is not a behemoth” at SOU, as it is at some institutions, he says, but the university must be mindful, make hard decisions when necessary and be resourceful to keep students’ expenses and debts manageable.
May 30, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey is back for another Raider Up podcast, answering students’ questions about what tuition pays for, the state of housing in Ashland, the Theatre Program, accessibility on campus, how decisions are made about adding academic programs and more.
May 19, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey focuses on two thoughts – a paradigm shift and our commitment to who we are – in his May video message to campus and community members. He says it’s time to “stop just playing defense” and look ahead to what the university should look like in 10, 20 or 50 years. And following a recent visit to campus by agitators seeking division – and the civil, pitch-perfect response by students and employees – he urges a daily commitment by the SOU community to “respect for and belief in the fundamental dignity of all people.”
March 29, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey circles back to something he mentioned over a year ago in his first video message to campus and community members: that with kindness and unity as a foundation, the university can do anything. He acknowledges that there is turbulence and anxiety, but also opportunity as SOU proceeds with its fiscal realignment. And he thanks campus and the community for their support through all of their connections with SOU.